“Well,” the other man said and scowled at the forty-two warriors now arrayed against them. “I don’t think that’ll be a problem yet.”
The doors to the team areas closed and a short siren sounded.
“They’re pulling out all the stops for this one,” Frog muttered.
“And so are we,” Stephanie muttered before she raised her voice. “Bring it!”
With a shout, her team raced forward. The cats’ roars mingled with the human cries and Dreth bellow of their teammates.
Stephanie sprinted ahead and her soul boiled with rage as she tried to capture her magic. Internally, the gMU spun into the fastest vortex she’d yet created, but she couldn’t bring the magic to her hands.
If this keeps up, I’ll explode. She somehow forced her mind to calm.
A second roar went up, this time from their Dreth opponents. The ground trembled when the champions surged forward. The team didn’t falter or even look at her. She knew they relied on her to give them the edge.
That was enough for her to grasp the slippery strands of gMU and conjure a shield between them and the oncoming Dreth. She formed it as a wedge and her team ran inside its edges and raised their blasters.
The shield took the Dreth by surprise and the front runners drove into it and immediately bounced back into the rank behind them, who’d come to their own sudden halt. Some started to backpedal but they weren’t fast enough.
The shield cut through them like a snowplow through a drift. It hurled them aside in two untidy piles. Only the warriors in the very rear ranks were able to avoid it, and that was because Stephanie stopped.
The team wasted no time. Their blasters were ready and they fired through the shield, but the magic shifted and absorbed the energy and their shots didn’t penetrate. She tried to twist the magic back but it slithered and pulsed beneath her hands until, with a cry of frustration, she released it.
The team resumed firing as soon as it vanished, but the damage had been done and several Dreth had regained their feet. Lars ducked under a fist swipe from the lead champion of House Hachtech.
The Dreth bared his fangs, switched from his hands to feet, and forced the man to take several hasty steps back to avoid losing either his blaster or his head. He was so startled that he forgot to fire.
“Fuck it!” he yelled when he remembered, and Stephanie’s head snapped toward him.
A small ball of magic erupted from her hand and attached itself to the Dreth’s armor.
“Don’t kill,” Lars cried and backpedaled rapidly. “Don’t kill.”
It was the same command she used with the cats and he hoped it worked.
The Dreth looked from Lars’s obvious fear to the ball and tried to brush it from his chest. She frowned and the ball flashed brightly before it exploded to coat the armor with a sheen of light.
An odd hiss was followed by the acrid smell of dissolving metal and the Dreth yanked hurriedly in an effort to remove it. Fortunately, the sheen faded when the breastplate vanished. As soon as he realized he would not actually be dissolved, he focused on Lars.
“It looks like you’ve made a new friend,” Frog observed and darted out from behind the team leader to fire two shots into the Dreth’s head.
He swayed on his feet and took a clumsy swipe at Lars before Frog fired again.
“Stay down, already!” he shouted and continued his volley until the Dreth pitched over on the battlefield. “Woohoo! Who’s next?”
“How about me, little man?”
Frog spun toward the voice and came face to face with another Hachtech breastplate. “Oh, crap.”
He had barely dropped to his knees when a huge hand closed on the space where his throat had been. Rather than waste any time contemplating that, though, he lurched into a crouch and dived forward.
Unfortunately, this Dreth had paid close attention to the previous matches and stamped down, caught the man mid-dive, and hurled him to the hard surface. The blaster dropped from his hand on impact.
Frog tucked his legs in and heard the clash of steel before a massive foot descended on him. “Shit on a tark feather!”
He tried to wriggle out from under the huge Dreth boot that pinned him down but the warrior weighed a ton and he couldn’t move. This is gonna hurt.
His eyes closed instinctively and he tensed, but the blow never came. Instead, the boot lifted and the Dreth stumbled away. Frog rolled sideways in the same instant that the pressure came off his back and heard steel clatter beside him.
Once on his feet, he looked to see what had happened. Zeekat swatted and bit at the warrior’s head and raked his claws down the Dreth’s armor. Before he could wonder what the claws could do to that, sparks rose from a seam and a hip joint seized.
“Oh... Clever kitty,” he murmured.
The Dreth tumbled and Zeekat vaulted clear. Frog raced over, yanked the Dreth’s blaster from its holster, and shot him with it. The warrior went limp and he grinned. “Oh, yeah! I have to get me another one of these.”
He glanced around and grinned when Brenden and Avery tag-teamed with Bumblebee, while Johnny and Lars stood back to back and faced all comers. The only one he couldn’t see was Marcus.
Frog looked around, worried, until he caught a flare of blue.
“What the fuck are you using a stun stick for, bro?” he wondered and sprinted toward his friend. “Don’tcha know that’s only gonna make him mad?”
Marcus heard that and laughed. “He was already mad. I’m only showing him a new relaxation technique.”
He beat a rapid tattoo over the Dreth’s armor and drove him back when he reached the champion’s head.
“I don’t think it’s working,” Frog shouted and shot the Dreth with the blaster he’d acquired.
The warrior gave a startled roar and fell, but his outrage had drawn attention. Marcus looked at the four Dreth closing in on them. “Thanks, Frog. Thanks a lot.”
“How was I to know they don’t like their weapons being touched?”
They turned in the same way Lars and Johnny had and Frog opened fire with the blaster until he had to duck under a large Dreth fist.
“Down,” he called, and Marcus complied. The fist swept futilely through the now empty space.
Steel hissed as it came free of scabbards and the Dreth stepped back to give themselves room.
“Oh, look. It’s Mr Slice ‘n’ Dice,” Frog quipped.
“And friends,” Marcus added.
“I didn’t think he had any friends.”
“Well, he does.” The Dreth started to circle.
Frog scowled. “And they’re making a blender.”
Marcus laughed. “I always wanted to see a Frog in a blender.”
“Ha. Ha. You are so fucking funny.”
They drew their combat knives and their eyes widened when they compared blade lengths.
“We are so screwed,” Frog said.
His friend laughed. “That pilot was right—size does matter.”
“And the Dreth have it all.”
“Break out?” Marcus asked and parried the first slash as he and his teammate separated to give each other room.
“Yup.”
“When?”
Zeekat appeared out of nowhere, hurled himself into the back of one Dreth’s head, and forced him to stumble forward. Bumblebee ran through the legs of another, who fell heavily.
“Now?” Frog suggested as he sidestepped the Dreth’s aimless sword-waving. He punched the dagger forward and drove it hilt-deep into his opponent’s neck. “Oops.”
The blade scraped on bone and stuck. “Oh, shit.”
The warrior tumbled forward and Zee sprang clear to give Frog a filthy look as he left.
“Dammit! Now I’m gonna need another knife.”
Marcus grabbed the Dreth’s sword off the ground and handed it to him. “Use this. Now, come on.”
They turned, stopped, and turned again.
“It’s been nice knowing ya,” Frog said, and his teamm
ate forced a grin.
“Nah. I’ll take Tiny, here...and you can deal with Eeny, Meeny, Miny, and Mo.”
“You know you’re supposed to kiss me before you screw me, right?”
“Yeah, yeah.” Marcus stepped forward and blocked. “Do you think they’ll take turns?”
The Dreth had them surrounded, and they didn’t look like they would take turns. In fact, they looked like they preferred to see who could skewer the two men first.
“I bet they’re counting kills,” Frog shouted.
“They’d better not be,” his friend retorted, “Or Steph is gonna have their heads.”
Their adversaries closed and their blades flashed. Marcus parried and twisted under one champion’s reach. Another followed him and the man ducked and grinned when his attacker’s blade swept over his head and scored a deep line in the first warrior’s armor.
He twisted past the Dreth’s legs, tripped, and landed hard on his butt before he scrambled unceremoniously backward out of the circle. His stomach hurt and he ached, but he knew he couldn’t stop.
There were more Dreth than Morganas and he needed to stick around as long as he could—and eliminate as many of the champions as he could. Steel clashed from inside the circle and Frog cried out in pain.
Marcus scrambled to his feet, drew his blaster, and fired into the group, but he hadn’t been the only one to hear his teammate.
Across the arena, Stephanie raised her head. She had finally chosen to throw balls of magic that paralyzed the warrior they struck and disabled for the boys to take out. The only problem she had was that she could throw it faster than they could deal with her targets, and the Dreth were recovering before the team could reach them.
The magic didn’t last as long as she thought it should—and it didn’t do what she wanted. One minute, it was as reluctant as a sulky child and the next, it surged headlong through her grasp like it had a race to run.
She looked across the arena and realized the team had been scattered and the clusters of Dreth ranged against them still outnumbered them three to one.
“Get everyone together,” she ordered as Lars commandeered another blaster. “How many of those do you think you’ll need?”
“All of them,” he answered and looked around.
Several of the Dreth she’d temporarily dealt with were rising. Avery, Brenden, and Bumblebee were flagging, but not one of them was ready to call it quits. Lars whistled to call them in and they had to fight a rear-guard action to reach them.
He looked for Johnny and saw the man sprinting from a half-dozen Dreth as he headed for another band of opponents. Before the team leader could wonder why, someone shouted in pain and she ran toward the sound, leaving him no choice but to follow.
Across the arena, Avery, Brendan, and Bumblebee changed course, but not toward them. They moved away, drawn by the small gathering of combatants Johnny had targeted. Steph gave no sign of noticing.
Magic flowed over her as she ran but the flow seemed jagged—glitchy, even, as though something was interfering. It ran along her arms and down to her hands, then petered out. In the next moment, it pulsed abruptly upward to form a bubble over and around her.
She reached the rear line of Dreth and the magic arced, and the force of its touch thrust the warriors aside. Lars stopped running when he caught sight of a human body several yards to the right. He altered course and jogged the few steps required to reach it.
Marcus looked like he’d run into a brick wall...or maybe three. Apprehension raced through him, and he tried to feel for a pulse. It was there, but light and fast. With no time for finesse, he hauled the man over his shoulder.
“I got you, buddy. You can bleed on me all you like,” he muttered and looked for Stephanie.
She’d dropped the shield and wound Frog in a sheath of blue that floated along behind her. The man looked like some kind of macabre balloon.
“Steph?” he asked, and she pointed a glowing finger to where Zeekat had joined Bumblebee, Avery, and Brenden in attacking the Dreth with Johnny. As they moved, some of their adversaries thrown aside by her magic began to find their feet.
“Story of my life,” Lars muttered and opened fire.
Marcus groaned and he kept an arm tightly around him to keep him on his shoulder. “Easy, man. I got you.”
Johnny had turned and faced the Dreth that had pursued him. He’d moved far enough to put the guys and the cats between him and the group he’d aimed for, and the odds looked almost even.
Lars followed Stephanie and dropped instantly when she shouted, “Down!”
The team, including the cats, did the same and the Dreth they’d been fighting pivoted toward her. She raised both hands palms upward and extended her arms toward them.
The Dreth hesitated and looked at each other, at the humans prone on the floor before them, and the small human female who held her hands up. Puzzlement etched their features followed by amusement and Lars wondered what she was waiting for.
Stephanie was waiting for the magic to do as she asked. It slithered and slid out of her grasp and refused to come out of the vortex she had whirling inside. The MU wouldn’t answer her call and depression threatened.
She was about to give up when her power surged and ripped its way out of the tanks she had inside to form two gleaming bolts of light. These lashed across the arena, scattered those Dreth who thought to run, and careened into those who stood and gaped.
When the missiles faded, the clusters of Dreth had broken apart and some of the champions lay stretched on the ground while the others regrouped. As the humans and cats rose to their feet, one more Dreth stood.
“Are you okay, Vishlog?” She let her arms drop to her sides.
He nodded, picked his way clear of the bodies, and joined the others as they moved toward her. Lars closed the distance, keeping a wary eye on the gathering Dreth.
She turned her head and scanned the ground at the edges of the arena. “Over there.” She pointed.
They made their way over to the wall. Lars set Marcus down gently and she floated Frog to rest beside him. Avery, Brenden, and Johnny crouched close to the wall and divided their attention between the Dreth and Stephanie.
“What do you say, Steph?” Lars asked. “D’you think they’ll let us get our breaths back?”
She shook her head but kept her back to them because she didn’t want them to see the tears that had spilled down her cheeks at the sight of Marcus and Frog lying so still. Irritated with herself, she dashed a hand across her eyes and raised her chin as she tried to work out what was wrong with her.
It was no secret that she reacted badly to seeing the boys hurt, but never this badly and not until the fight was over. Here, her emotions rolled between outrage and despair, an overwhelming desire to kill and one to simply give up.
Worse, her magic was all over the place. Like the King’s Warrior’s engines when Nihilistic energy fouled them up. One minute, it refused to work and the next, it was—
“You can’t see it unless you’re looking for it...and you can’t see it unless you can feel it,” she murmured as the Dreth champions formed into ranks.
“Uh, Steph?” Lars began but she snapped a hand out and he stopped.
“I have to feel the sight...”
“That’s it. She’s lost the plot,” Johnny quipped but the joke fell flat and he sounded worried.
“Give her a minute,” the team leader told them.
“Feelings...”
Stephanie took a deep breath and focused on finding the energy around her. She ignored the groan as Marcus came round and ignored the Dreth who checked their weapons and scrutinized them like prime steak. Instead, she focused and searched not for the glow of Earth or Meligorn magic, or even the translucent sparkle of gMU. This time, she sought the source of her negative feelings.
“Easy, Marcus. I’ve got you.”
“What’s she doing?”
“I’ll tell you when she lets me know.”
She ign
ored him because she’d found it.
All around them.
They were surrounded by darkness, steeped in it and drowning in the black.
“nMU...” she whispered and tried to ignore the small portion of her mind that screamed a warning for her to be careful.
“I say we forget these three,” Marcus suggested, tried to stand, and failed.
Farther along the wall, Avery collapsed and Brenden dropped down beside him. “You can’t go to sleep now.”
“I’m not. I’m fine,” the man muttered and Johnny pulled him into a seated position. “Hey. How many fingers am I holding up?”
His teammate squinted at the three fingers he waved in front of his face and shook his head.
Johnny glanced around and tried again, this time holding up two. “How many now? Come on. It’s easy.”
“Easy,” he slurred and nodded.
He sighed and held one finger up. “How about this? What was that? One? Yeah, one.”
“Right.” He slapped the man on the shoulder. “You’re good to go. Get up off your lazy ass.”
Avery held a hand out and he hauled him to his feet and propped him against the wall beside Brenden. “Keep him upright.”
“Gotcha,” Brendan said and shuffled closer.
Marcus sighed. “What’s the point? We’ve...” His voice died to silence when Stephanie turned.
As she did, Vishlog gave a sudden shout of alarm and threw himself forward to shove her sideways. A blaster bolt pounded into his armor and he fell.
She got to her feet.
“Are you all right?” Lars asked and moved to help her. He extended his hand toward her and stopped.
“Uh, Stephanie...” he continued after a moment’s hesitation. “Why are your eyes glowing black?”
“You were saying?” she asked and turned to Marcus.
He gulped and she motioned for him to speak. “Go on.”
“I was gonna say we’ve got nothing left and you’re almost out. We have most of the families. Fuck these three—”
“Yes,” she agreed and her voice trailed darkness and tones of Morgana. “That’s what we’ll do.”
She changed direction and moved away from the wall, taking several strides into the arena as Lars helped Vishlog over to the wall.
Witch Of The Federation III (Federal Histories Book 3) Page 32